It was a novel thing, really—having people like that in my corner. Growing up, I’d mostly been the tagalong little sister or the weird kid who preferred practicing the cello to attending pool parties. But with Nessa and her crew, I never felt like the odd one out.
They made space for me, exactly as I was.
Nessa
Seriously, why are you still there??
They also didn’t pull any punches.
Me
I’m trying to figure that out myself. Paralysis? Politeness? Sheer horror?
June
Or maybe D, all of the above.
A beat later, Jo sent a GIF of someone dramatically tiptoeing out of a church. I smiled down at it, thumb hovering over the reply button, then froze as warm breath fanned the side of my face.
Every muscle in my body went rigid and my brain lit up with alarms that screamedtoo close, too close, too close.
“Are you seriously texting right now?” Jasper hissed under his breath.
“Er, yes,” I whispered back. “Just letting the group chat know I’m alive.”
Not the best choice of phrasing considering the circumstances, but true regardless.
“A little disrespectful, don’t you think?”
I blinked, genuinely stunned at the audacity.Disrespectful my ass.The man who’d dragged a near-stranger to his ex’s grandma’s funeral was suddenly the guardian of etiquette?
“Excuse me, but I think that ship sailed when you brought me to a funeral for our first date, Captain Oblivious.”
His mouth opened then closed again, like a goldfish mid-existential crisis.
“I’m sorry?”
I tilted my head. “I doubt that. No, you’re more concerned about me checking my text messages than the fact that you tricked me into attending your ex’s grandmother’s funeral.”
The color rose in his face, but I didn’t stick around to see what shade of idiot he turned. Instead, I slid my phone back into my bag, jumped to my feet, and smoothed out my dress.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“Anywhere that isn’t here,” I said. “And preferably somewhere with the dinner I was promised.”
A few heads turned. I pretended not to notice as I walked down the aisle, each step reverberating louder in my chest than the last.
The organ swelled behind me, a droning, dramatic soundtrack to my exit, and for once, I didn’t second-guess myself.Instead, I made a mental note to pick up a loaf of sourdough on the way home and another to research “organ lessons near me.” After all, what was one more instrument?
I hurried across the cracked asphalt of the parking lot, boots echoing like punctuation marks on my freedom, and slid into the driver’s seat.
I tapped out one last text to Nessa.
Me
Escaped. Heading home. Tell Jare-bear I’m alive.
Her typing bubbles appeared immediately, but I tossed my phone into the passenger seat before I could see the response.
